


Luke Cage: Homecoming

by gumboy



Series: Pop's Barbershop Anthology [1]
Category: Jessica Jones (TV), Luke Cage (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Sometimes coffee is just coffee
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-18
Updated: 2016-10-18
Packaged: 2018-08-23 06:37:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8317633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gumboy/pseuds/gumboy
Summary: Luke gets released from prison only to find Jessica Jones passed out in Pop's Barbershop. Awkward conversation then follows...Some references to Matt Murdock and Claire Temple but not worthy of a tag.





	

As Matt had promised, there was no trial for Carl Lucas. The evidence packet provided by Mariah and Shades, and turned over to Matt Murdock was extremely convincing and enough to make the prosecution agree to commute the sentence to time served.

Needless to say the veiled threat that the decision could be revoked if Luke ever mentioned anything of the experiments performed at the prison was definitely made. One that made Murdock make some threats of his own but in private advised Luke to keep his mouth shut.

Luke had no problem with that. 

In fact Luke's release was so quick, he didn't even have time to call anyone to let them know he was out. In a flurry of activity he was ushered to the exit, handed his clothes and belongings and sent on his merry way. Later he'd be told by his lawyer his exit was the result of the US Attorney general who wanted to avoid any press, which suited Luke just fine.

He considered calling Claire or Fish for a ride then just settled on walking home. A phone call might lead to attention and the fact of the matter was he was done with attention for the moment. He settled for pulling his hoodie on and over his head and walking all the way from Ryker's to Harlem.

It was early enough in the day that people were more interested in getting to work than noticing that a folk hero had returned. Not even the guy on the corner selling video tapes of the "incident" or Luke's brawl with Stryker recognized him.

No. The first and only person who knew he was home was Fish and that was only when Luke walked through the door of Pop's Barbershop.

Bobby was on his feet and hugging Luke as soon as he came in through the door much to Luke's laughter. "Surprised to see me, old man?"

Fish was about to reply when someone from one of the chairs groaned out a "Jesus, do you two have to be so fucking loud?"

Luke looked over to Fish who rolled his eyes. "She's been here since before I got here," Fish said settling back down at the chess table. "She said she was waiting for you. Been sitting in that chair for the last two hours."

Luke looked over to find Jessica passed out on one of the barbershop chairs. Her leather coat was being used as a make shift blanket and one of the straps of her tank top had fallen off her shoulder and was resting on her upper arm. Her hair was sticking out all over the place and her mouth was half-open. Enough that a small puddle of drool had started on the barber chair. And of course she was still wearing her sunglasses.

She looked like a complete mess and when Luke got closer he almost took a step back from the stench. "Whew! Jessica Jones, what happened to you?"

The sound of his voice was enough to rouse her from her half-sleep. "Oh. It's you," she groaned and started to peel herself out of the chair. "Sorry. Was on a case. Heard through the grapevine you were getting released."

"Did your case involve drinking cheap bourbon in a dumpster?" Fish asked as he made a face.

That earned him a glare from Jess. She even pulled off her sunglasses so the glare would be more effective with her bloodshot eyes. "Yes. It did as a matter of fact," she snapped.

"Okay, okay, okay," Luke said stepping in between Jessica and Fish. "Let's not get bent out of shape."

Fish immediately started grumbling under his breath as he headed back to his chess board. Jess started to say something but Luke stepped in again.

"Jess. What are you doing here?"

She paused for a moment, regretting the fact she couldn't argue with Fish and turned to a folder that was sitting on the counter in front of the chair she was sleeping on. "I did some research for your lawyer," she said picking up and handing the folder to Luke. "He had an evidence file that needed corroborating-"

"Which he got from me!" Fish interjected from his chess table.

"Okay! We know!" Jess snarked back with an eyeroll added for emphasis. "But there was stuff in there that I didn't hand over to him."

"Stuff like what?" Luke asked as he took the folder and started skimming through the materials.

"What was done to you," she said leaning her back against the chair. "Not all the details were pertinent to the trial. Murdock kept those. That's the rest. Some of them had to do with your wife. Reva."

She took a deep breath. Luke did his best to avoid any eye contact and kept his eyes on the pieces of paper in front of him.

The silence was long and awkward. Jess was looking at anything but Luke. Luke continued to keep his eyes locked on the file folder.

"Look," Jess said finally breaking the silence in a voice that wasn't brash or sarcastic for once. "There's stuff in there about her that isn't great. And since this was coming from me, I didn't want you to think-"

"It's okay," Luke said/interrupted and not looking up. "I knew."

"You knew." It wasn't a question. Just a flat response coming from her.

Luke closed the file and sighed, finally looking at Jess. "I got hurt. We had to go see the guy who did this to me and there were video file with her," he said, struggling for words. "It's a long story. But yeah, I knew something."

"Right." Jess was still feeling awkward and looked like she wanted to bolt from the room. "Okay. Then... I'll just go."

She headed for the door. There was a good part of Luke that wanted her to leave. But- "Hold up."

She stopped, her hand on the doorknob.

Luke paused. "Let's talk. Over coffee." He immediately regretted saying 'coffee'. Now Fish was giving him a knowing look. He tried to give him a look as if to say "Not like that!" but Fish wasn't buying it.

"I smell like a dump truck and you hate coffee," Jess said cautiously.

"Then get a shower and meet me at that place down at the corner in an hour," Luke replied. "I'll eat breakfast and you can sober up over coffee."

She rolled her eyes but even Luke could tell she wasn't as tense as before. "Fine. I'll see you," she replied and walked out the door.

It was quiet again and Luke smiled. He still had to call Claire but-

Fish was giving him that look. "It's not like that, old man!"

"Mmmmm-hmmm." 

Fish went back to his chess game and Luke rolled his eyes as he went to the window. He caught a glimpse of the woman jumping through the air and a couple of the early risers in Harlem immediately started pointing in the sky and gossiping like fish wives.

He couldn't help but grin. He couldn't ask for a better day to come home.


End file.
